Surgical Treatment of the Esophagus

Eighteen years have passed since Sauerbruch solved the problem of attacking intrathoracic organs by means of his differential pressure chamber. By this invention, it was hoped that it might be possible to reach and remove carcinomatous tumors of the intrathoracic part of the esophagus which hitherto had been impossible of approach. In the beginning, the complicated apparatus stood in the way of popularizing the method, and only a few larger institutions were fortunate enough to be able to provide themselves with this costly differential pressure chamber. It has been my good fortune to be connected with an institution, the Lenox Hill Hospital (formerly German Hospital) in New York, which was the first in this country to erect a Sauerbruch chamber, as a result of the untiring efforts and enthusiasm of one of our members, Dr. Willy Meyer. In the course of years, the method of using differential pressure has become